Training vessel SS “UGANDA”
Article partly from wikipedia:
SS Uganda was a British steamship that had a varied and notable career. She was built in 1952 as a passenger liner, and successively served as a cruise ship, training ship, hospital ship, troop ship and stores ship. She was laid up in 1985 and scrapped in 1992.
Passenger liner
She was a passenger and cargo liner with capacity for 167 first class and 133 tourist class passengers and 388,250 cubic feet (10,994 m3) of cargo. Her original tonnages were 14,430 GRT, 8,034 NRT and 9,630 DWT. Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company built her two Parsons steam turbines, which between them developed 12,300 shp.
In service she normally cruised at 16 knots (30 km/h). Her route was between London and East Africa, calling at Gibraltar, Naples, Port Said, Aden, Mombasa, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanga and Beira.
Cruise ship
B.I. had Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Hamburg refit Uganda to an educational cruise ship. Decks were inserted in her former cargo holds, which were converted into dormitory cabins with a total of 920 berths. The conversion raised her passenger capacity from 300 to 1,226 and cost £2.8 million. It increased her gross and net tonnages to 16,907 GRT 8,827 NRT but the loss of cargo capacity reduced her deadweight tonnage to 5,695 DWT.
Uganda continued for 14 years cruising mainly Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, together with her company consort Nevasa. In 1971 Uganda‘s management and operation were transferred to P&O’s Passenger Division. In 1972 P&O absorbed its B.I. subsidiary and Uganda‘s ownership. However, uniquely within the P&O fleet, Uganda retained her B.I livery of white hull with a black band and black funnel with two white bands.
Radio room SS “UGANDA” callsign GFRQ
Falklands service
In 1982 Uganda was a hospital ship in the Falklands War with the call sign of “Mother Hen”. She was called up for military duty while on cruise 276 and discharged her 315 cabin passengers and 940 school children, who were on an educational cruise, in Naples.
A team of 136 medical staff including 12 doctors, operating theatre staff and 40 members of the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, left Portsmouth to join her taking large quantities of medical supplies with them.
Triton
On 29 April 1986 the Triton Shipping Company of St Vincent bought Uganda and renamed her Triton. With a crew of 21 she left the Fal on 20 May and anchored off Kaohsiung in Taiwan on 15 July to await breaking. On 22 August Typhoon Wayne drove her ashore. She was still ashore on her side in March 1992, but has since been broken up.
73’s
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